Hugh2

I'm more patient than most, and I'm in full support of leaving Casas in there and letting him figure it out BUT at this point I also wouldn't be angry if they sent him down either. It would not be the worse thing in the world to sit him down and explain to him that they still view him as the 1B of the future but he has some things to figure out. I don't know how well Dalbec will hit. But it's worth giving him a few weeks here. His RHB would compliment this lineup nicely if he's figured it out. That K% is still really high, he might just be feasting on bad AAA/AAAA pitching but there's only one way to find out.

Robo umps are on the way folks, pitching framing will not matter and neither will blind umps.

$18 million is too much for a guy who (at least offensively) is looking like he could be a perennial all-star for the next few years???? OK.

He might not have been allowed to, still, that was 3 years ago. You'd think by now he'd be able to bring over a guy or two he liked.

I really don't think anyone can use Martin Perez's year last year as a benchmark. If anything shows Bloom was on, just got the year wrong. But Perez has a very long career and stat line of being 1/2 as good as he was last year. Last year was an anomaly.

Average ERA was 4.27 last year. I think that would be very welcomed on this team for 164 innings. 150 innings is the new 200. But his WHIP and FIP and BB/9 were well above average. If he gave us this year what he gave last year that would be fine. He'd look great in the 3-5 role on this team. Not the "Upside" we were promised but for what he was and for $10 mil whatever, he's fine. Well he's not fine he sucks, but the signing itself wasn't bad. It just didn't work out. Stands out more when the overall team you built isn't that great either.

The Kluber signing was fine at the time, if he was pitching as good as he was last year no one would be complaining about him. It's ok. It's also ok to be upset that a signing didn't work out as intended. Last year's pitching market was thin and the high end of it was filled with age and injury risk. Verlander was older, DeGrom was an accident waiting to happen, and only 2 years younger than Kluber. I think you can critique Bloom for building this pitching staff, that's fair because he's been here for 3 years now, but I think it's also fair to recognize last years market was not the year to do it. I'd expect bigger things next year in a much more robust pitching m arket. Also, if "developing" homegrown pitching is the goal.....that takes more than 3 years. Still, looking at the pipeline there does not seem to be too many exciting guys on the farm unless someone pops.

Nobody wanted Eovaldi last year, nobody…none of you. We remember. People were even angry when he was offered a qualifying offer. Just stop with the Nathan talk. It’s a 100% hindsight argument.

Offering Wacha a QO doesn’t seem like such a bad idea now

Good stuff, now with JD the fall-off appears to be more pronounced than the last several years. Maybe thats a coincidence and this is a SSS....or it could just be that he wears out quicker and it's getting worse because he's getting up there with age. If the later is true, he probably falls off a cliff in a month. If he doesn't.....good for him. Turner is fine though. He's certainly not hurting the team.

Hes 26 with not even a full MLB season's worth of at-bats......he's a kid to me.

Exactly, starting pitchers would go deeper into games if they......wait for it........PITCHED BETTER!!!!

I don't know about his history, because I don't care to look it up and it may be irrelevant to this but more recently JDM has been a first-half performer. There was a .148 point drop in his OPS the second half of last season and .139 points the year before. Turner has historically been a much better second half guy. Pass him in OPS? IDK, like I just said I'm not going to be money on it, but I would be willing to be the difference between their two OPS's will be significantly smaller than it is now by the end of the season.

No, but by no means would I be surprised if it happens.

The problem with someone like Duran is you only have a small sample size to go on, because he's so young. So yes, taking the last several weeks is cherry-picking, but given where he is in his career you can't help but wonder if he's turned back into a pumpkin, the league has figured him out. Question is....can he do anything about it? His improved defense has raised his floor in my book and that gives him a longer leash to figure it out. I'm certainly rooting for the kid.

Don’t underestimate the power of one hot streak/cold steak

As a 22 year old guy....he'd probably love all that.

Sale should have no bearing on this team (at this precise point) for the following reason. The Sox just reset the luxury tax limit this year and if they blow past it next year. Let's just say hypothetically for those who don't think it's a likelihood that they are. By the time the Sox would want to reset again Sales money is off the books. It's no longer handicapping this team IF they wanted to spend. That's the question at hand though.....it really comes down to what John Henry wants to do. In my humble opinion, Henry should remember that he's the owner of big market team and if he builds a winner he will make plenty of money.

Progress isn't linear, sometimes a guy struggles for a long time and just figures it out. But this is why you don't rush him, let him figure it out in AA, let him get a full season there then let him start next year in AAA. I'm starting to think his MLB career gravitates more toward his floor than his ceiling....but I'm still hopeful and like him as a prospect.

Here's a tid-bit from soxprospects on Ceddanne. "Potential bench utility player. Ceiling of an everyday regular who adds considerable value on defense and also contributes some at the plate. Defensive ability and versatility and speed give him a high floor. Could be a plus defender at every position except catcher and first base. Bat lags behind, but has improved considerably in 2022. Approach is what holds him back now and will determine his ultimate value at the plate. Needs to cut down on chasing pitches out of the zone and improve swing decisions and quality of contact." From what I can remember hearing on some recent soxprospects podcasts is that his approach hasn't really shown any improvement this year. The season is still young, and changing your approach is a lot harder than any of us can imagine. Sometimes you have to accept players for who they are. Rafaela might be nothing more than a speedy utility guy who adds tremendous value all around the diamond. Whatever, you get him for peanuts instead of going out and paying 5-10 million for that guy. But if not rushing him drastically increases the chances that he hits enough to be a solid starting outfielder then I don't want this kids development messed with.

Bringing up Ceddanne now would be a disaster. He'd be a black hole in your lineup, you'd start his service clock too early, and you'd completely stunt his development. He needs to be working on things, he's not ready, if he tries to work on them at the MLB level where he is overwhelmed it's only going to stunt his development.

His defense grades better in CF, elite. If he’s not hitting, I don’t know why a team wouldn’t want to maximize his value in CF

I’m the context that the wheels come off. Even a .500 team missing the playoffs wouldn’t be awful but it would certainly be underwhelming. At the very least, this organization needs to show its heading in the right direction.

If Rafaela is ever a starter it’s as a CFer, if he’s playing SS he’s a utility guy.

I think Rafaela likely plays a lot of SS at the MLB level because I don’t think he’s going to hit enough to be a starter, so he has more of a chance sticking to a roster as a SS/CF/Pinch runner guy. He has a chance to be more, that’s why he’s highly regarded. But his plate approach is not great. Bringing him up to showcase is not wise, other teams know what he is, bringing him up can only hurt his value. When he shows the bat isn’t ready, teams will be left with a guy whose service clock has started, thus reducing his value. I also don’t think you see him if Story is out longer. I think the Sox would trade for a rental first.